Betsy DeVos

Spouse: Dick DeVos, former candidate for governor of Michigan and son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos.

Education: B.A., Calvin College.

Business: Chairwoman of the Windquest Group, a privately held operating group that invests in technology, manufacturing, and clean energy, founded in 1989 with her husband.

Political: Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997. Chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party form 1996 to 2000, and again from 2003 to 2005.

Secretary of Education: Appointed by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate Feb. 7 when Vice President Mike Pence broke a 50-50 tie.

State Sen. Mike Kowall sent his daughter to Catholic school but she’s now a public school teacher.

Kowall says he supports vouchers, which would allow parents to send their children to any school they choose – public, private or parochial.

But the Republican from Oakland County’s White Lake Township said a public school system also needs to be maintained.

“I sent my daughter to Catholic school” Kowall said. “I was still paying taxes for public education as well.

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“They could come up with a hybrid to make it easier for parents,” he said. “I understand we still have to maintain public school system, and its done through the tax base.”

Kowall is among current and former lawmakers, judges and other elected officeholders who have received money from donors advocating both school choice and school vouchers.

Among the largest donors in Michigan is Betsy DeVos, the new Secretary of Education in the Trump administration, and the DeVos family, who have been advocating school choice and vouchers for two decades.

Michigan, like most states, provides for schools of choice, where per pupil funding goes with the student from one public district to another.

Vouchers that would allow parents to send their children to any type of school, public or private, is another matter.

Michigan’s only ballot proposal to allow school vouchers in 2000 was defeated, despite proponents, chiefly the DeVos family, outspending the opposition 2-1.

“That’s always been a hot potato,” Kowall said of school vouchers.

Roughly a quarter of the states allow school vouchers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures – Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin, plus the District of Columbia.

Donor Analysis

With President Donald J. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos advocating vouchers, school choice and the form it should take is a national debate.

An analysis by the Associated Press showed that wealthy funders contributed a total of more than $200 million from 2007 through last year to candidates and political action committees, some of which are supporters of school choice.

The outline in President Donald J. Trump’s budget proposal calls for $1.4 billion in school-choice initiatives, including $250 million to launch a voucher program. That money would come in part from cutting $9 billion from K-12 education, including teacher training and after-school and summer programs.

The Trump budget calls for eventually increasing annual school-choice funding by $20 billion.

In her first major policy address as education secretary, DeVos said allowing parents to decide where their children will be educated is essential, whether they choose home schooling, traditional schools, magnets, charters, online schools or private schools.

“I think that the first and most important measure of accountability to the public is to the parents in general, right?” said DeVos.

In Michigan, the AP analysis identified 797 contributions to supporters of school choice from 2007 through 2016, be they the Republican Party, committees, or current or former officeholders, totalling more than $9.2 million – the majority from the DeVos family.

The DeVos family has financially promoted school choice for two decades. Just in the most recent election cycles, current and former officeholders receiving donations from Betsy DeVos or the DeVos family for supporting school vouchers or schools of choice include:

• Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. Johnson, former Oakland County clerk and county commissioner, received $13,600 in 2010, including contributions from Dick and Betsy DeVos.

• U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. Bishop received $25,600 in 2016, including $5,400 from Betsy DeVos. Bishop received $7,800 from DeVos family members in 2014.

• U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham. Trott received $4,000 including one contribution from Betsy DeVos. Trott received $5,200 from Devos family members in 2014.

• State Rep. Klint Kesto, R-West Bloomfield. Kesto received $4,000 in contributions from the DeVos family.

• Kathy Crawford, R-Novi. Crawford received $4,000 from the DeVos family. She also received $4,000 in 2014, including three contributions from Betsy and Dick DeVos.

• State Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake. Kowall received $8,000, including four contributions from Dick and Betsy DeVos.

• Colleen O’Brien. An Oakland Circuit judge in 2012, O’Brien received $13,600, including $10,200 from Betsy and Dick DeVos. O’Brien was appointed to the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2015 by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, himself a beneficiary of DeVos largesse.

• Snyder received $12,200 from DeVos family members in 2010 when he first ran for governor, and $45,400 in 2014 when he ran for a second term.

Others receiving contributions from Betsy DeVos or other DeVos family include:

• Former Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter, an Isabella County Republican. He received $2,000 in 2012 and $4,000 in 2014.

• Phil Pavlov, a Macomb County state senator, received $5,900 in 2016, and $8,000 in 2014.

“The Michigan constitution bans public resources for direct or indirect aid to maintain any private non-denomination or any non-public schools,” said Chris Wigent, executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

“Republicans have pushed the envelope a couple times in the past couple years,” said state Rep. Tim Greimel, an Auburn Hills Democrat. “This budget in the House is trying to give public dollars to private schools for robotics. The state constitution is very clear that can’t use public dollars for private schools. Michigan voters spoke loudly and clearly in 2000 that they don’t want to see their tax dollars used for private schools.”

Nationally, however, legislation expanding school choice could be on the way eventually to a Republican-majority Congress.

DeVos’ advocacy has met with fierce criticism from Democrats and teachers’ unions, who fear that school choice options will hurt public schools.

“This administration remains committed to serving all students, especially the most vulnerable,” DeVos said. “These students particularly benefit from school choice programs.”

Marking national charter school week, DeVos said there are over 6,900 charter schools in the United States serving more than 3 million students. More are needed, she said.

“I believe it should be a right for every parent, not a privilege,” DeVos said.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, from Washington state, is the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. She said she would strongly oppose a school choice bill.

“If President Trump truly wanted to help low-income students succeed he would stop trying to privatize public education, stop trying to push taxpayer dollars to private schools — and work with Democrats to make sure every student has access to a high quality public education,” Murray said.

In Michigan, Greimel, the Auburn Hills lawmaker, said it would take a lot to establish vouchers nationally.

“The reality is the vast majority of education funding comes from the state level,” Greimel said. “Unless the federal government spends an enormous amount of money, it won’t have much of an effect on education in Michigan or elsewhere.”